HAITI: Ladies' Day

On a steaming August day in 1946, thin, dark
deputy Castel Demesmin rose in Port-au-Prince's Doric-columned,
blue-and-gold-trimmed Chambre des Deputes, drew a deep breath and let
fly with a hot blast of pure male chauvinism. The topic under
discussion was a modest petition to let Haitian women vote and hold
office. "All the miseries of this country," roared Demesmin, "come from
the women. They have corrupted the public officers, the Deputies, the
Senators. The Haitian woman has brought this country to ruin . . . the
women who want the right to vote are so much manure!"